As fossil fuels are being depleted at ever-increasing rates, the need for alternative energy sources is becoming more and more apparent. Energy derived from wind, from the sun, and from flowing water offer renewable, environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas. Being readily available almost anywhere on Earth, solar energy may someday be a viable alternative.
To harness energy from the sun, the junction of a solar cell absorbs photons to produce electron-hole pairs, which are separated by the internal electric field of the junction not generate a voltage, thereby converting light energy to electrical energy. One or more solar cells may be combined together on solar panels. An inverter may be coupled to several solar panels to convert direct current power to alternating current power.
The currently high cost of producing solar cells relative to the low efficiency levels of contemporary devices heretofore has presented solar cells from becoming a mainstream energy sources, and has limited the applications to which solar cells may be suited. Compounding the problem are defective solar cells that may be by themselves unusable, but also may render a group of solar cells unusable, especially when the defect is fatal. Accordingly, there is a need for salvaging expensive, yet defective solar cells rather than discarding them.